The yarn I chose (Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton, which is a worsted weight) has a needle suggestion of 7 to 9 US... I decided I wanted a little more "give" to the blanket as my intended use is a nursing shawl, so I used size 10 needles. I think it still would have been fine with a size 9 though.

Well, that depends on how much time a day you spend knitting. I, unfortunately, only get about an hour to an hour 1/2 a day so it took me a couple of months. However, I wasn't working on it consistently. I'd put it down and pick up other projects and then go back to working on the blanket. You may be able to have it done by 10/31... if you work exclusively on it for a couple hours a day.

I only have early mornings so that depends on how early I get up LOL and nap times but usually thats when I do my daily cleaning... and then at night when the tots are in bed.. I usually stay up late knitting so I see alot of late nights in my future LOL.. Sometimes during the day the kids will play together in the play room so I try to sneek in some knitting but usually my youngest hears the needles and comes a runnin' LOL